This months interview
victim isn't directly connected to the Human League, but his designs are as
inventor of the Linn drum machine Roger Linn goes into details about
his groundbreaking invention that played such an important part in
the bands big breakthrough as producer Martin Rushnet introduced it on
the Dare album.

Interview by Niels Kolling

First
a little background. You’re an active musician both as a songwriter and
guitarist but it’s as a designer/inventor of musical equipment you’ve
really made your mark. Was that always your dream or did the world miss
out on a swaggering rockstar?

I've always loved both music and technology, hence my interest in making
computer music products. However, I learned early on that I was better
at making music products that making music.

You
revolutionised the music industry when you designed the Linn Electronics
LM-1 drum machine back in 1980. What was your thoughts behind coming up
with this groundbreaking piece of equipment?

The original idea
was born out of necessity.

In
making my songwriting demo recordings, I could play guitar well, play
bass and keyboards fairly well, and drums poorly. I simply wanted a
machine that could create the drum tracks that I heard in my head, and
sound good.

Since
you only produced 500 units of the LM-1, were you trying to make it an
exclusive product or didn’t you expect it to take off in such a big way
as it did?

No, the LM-1 was
simply too expensive for most people to afford.

Its
fame is based on the fact that they were owned by 500 of the top people
in music. I was pretty dumb but not dumb enough to intentionally refuse
a customer's money. :)

In
1981 The Human League were struggling to record The Sound Of The Crowd.
In came Martin Rushent and the rest is history as they went on to world
domination with the Linn LM-1 programmed album “Dare”. What did you
think when you heard it for the first time?

It felt wonderful
to hear "Don't You Want Me, Baby" on the radio.

They
also used it on their successful Dare Tour in 1981/82, did you attend the tour?

Unfortunately I never attended any of their concerts.

It did
at times give them some technical challenges, s how reliable was the LM-1 in a live situation?

The early LM-1s
had a variety of reliability issues, but we worked them out after a
while.

In
terms of using the Linn drum machine in the production, can you name
your favourite Human League track?

"Don't
You Want Me, Baby" is my favorite because it was, to my knowledge, the
first hit with one of my machines.

And favourite track by any other artist?

I
also enjoyed much of the recordings by Prince, Madonna, Don Henley and
others.

It’s
still very popular today as musicians uses samples from the LM-1
in their production. Was it ever converted into a virtual version?

Yes, the drum
samples from my old products are all over the web. I haven't yet

created a software drum machine, but may in future.

You later introduced the LinnDrum in 1982 and the Linn 9000 in
1984 (used on Human Leagues Hysteria album), any favourite model?

My favorite model
was the LinnDrum, which I found to be very useful and a reliable design.

Rushent hail the LinnDrum as “greatest drum machine ever made” and it
must give great satisfaction to hear the impact your work has had in
music. So how do you look back on your design and its place in music
history?

Yes, it is very satisfying to have had some influence on musical
creativity.

Even to this
day you still push the boundries of the drum machine as your company is
working on the Linn Drum II software. How is that coming along?

Still
working on it.

As the LinnDrum II page on our site explains, along the
way Dave Smith and I discovered that our respective customers wanted
different types of products, so we had to abandon our former "do it all"
design in favor of my proceeding with a design more suited to my
customers.

I realize
it's been a long time but it's a complex product and we're a small
company.

When a
song comes on the radio, are your trained ears tuned in to spotting if
one of the old Linn Drum machines are used?

Yes, that
is often the case. However, starting with LinnDrum we offered changeable
sounds, making it more difficult to identify because of the variety of
sounds.

The
band has some very loyal and dedicated fans that try to get to as many
shows as possible on a tour. Have you had the same passion for a
particular band? You know, following them around the country, sleeping
on train stations as you wait for the first train home?

Sorry, no. I'm usually good for about 30 or 45 minutes at a concert, so
I tend not to attend many. However, I do enjoy running across the
occasional gem, something truly creative and inspired, a work of talent
and artistic merit.

The technology has evolved at an unbelievable rate in the music business
since you started out as software has replaced hardware. How is it
working in the industry today, compared to back when?

It's a great time
for musicians, given that most recording and production products and
software are either low cost or free. But the development tools are also
greatly improved and a developer like myself is able to spend more time
on design and less on reinventing the wheel. It's a wonderful time.

You seem like a very busy man, so what are the future plans for Roger
Linn?

Regarding
future plans, the product I'm most excited about is the forthcoming
LinnStrument, a completely new concept in a musical instrument.

I posted
a YouTube video of the prototype and it's been viewed nearly 170,000
times in the past 4 months. You can learn more about it on our site: